Workshop: Margarita Osipian

Fungal Foraging

Our first foray into the forest was a sold-out success. We learned how to tell the difference between a poisonous mushroom and an edible one, and all the questionable mushrooms inbetween.

28 sep 2011

With our mushroom foraging expert Mark Janssen by our sides, and the Dutch weather on our sides, we made our way to Hollandsche Rading to learn everything we could about picking our own mushrooms. We found delicious edible mushrooms, not so tasty edible mushrooms, and even the most poisonous mushroom in the forest! We brought all of our finds, leaving our poisonous friends behind in the woods, to the Mediamatic Bank and enjoyed a delicious dinner, with our mushrooms as the stars of the meal.

If you missed this excursion, but are interested in this mycological mania, our next excursion will take place on the 11th of November!

Here you can find documentation of our hunt made by de Wereldomroep.

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Paddestoel gevonden! - 28 september: Samen met paddestoelen expert Mark Janssen zijn we op deze schitterende nazomerdag met z'n alle naar Hollandsche Rading gegaan om eetbare paddestoelen te zoeken. Tijdens het zoeken en plukken leren we paddestoelen determineren en hoe we giftige paddestoelen kunnen herkennen. Aan het einde van de dag gingen we met een goed gevuld mandje terug naar Mediamatic waar we samen een heerlijke maaltijd hebben gekookt. 28 september Anna Meijer

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We've been growing mushrooms inside the Mediamatic Bank for almost a week now, but on Wednesday we ventured into the wild Dutch forests to search for and learn everything we could about the diverse variety of mushrooms growing in the forest. We all met Mark Janssen, our fungal expert of the day, at the train station and after a short introduction about how to properly pick mushrooms (cut them, don't pluck them), we made our way into the woods with our wicker baskets in tow.

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Mushroom basket - Anna Meijer

The biggest fear that people have about picking wild mushrooms in the forest is that they'll accidentally eat a poisonous one. This fear can be overcome by taking a few precautions and brushing up on your mycological knowledge. The majority of mushrooms in the forest will not kill you, but if you are unsure about a certain mushroom it is best to stay away. As people found new and different varieties of mushrooms, Mark helped us identify them and figure out if they were edible or not. Some mushrooms aren't poisonous, but they aren't very tasty either. When you first start foraging for wild mushrooms, it's best to take a seasoned mushroom hunter with you until you learn the ropes...but in no time you'll be spotting the tastiest mushrooms. Even the most amateur hunters among us left the excursion with their baskets and bags filled with tasty treats.

We also found some very strange and interesting varieties of mushrooms, including the 'witches egg' mushroom with the stinkhorn attached to it, puffball mushrooms that explode spores when you step on them, and the illusive sponge mushroom which grows on the base of trees. As we were heading back to the train station, one of the participants found one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the forest! Seemingly harmless, with its thin white stem and top, this mushroom can kill you within ten days of ingesting it. This is the mushroom that King Claudius was poisoned with.

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Mark Janssen and the deadly mushroom - mushroom excursion hollandsche rading Anna Meijer

After a long day in the woods, we headed back to Mediamatic, where Mark and Tinda cooked up a delicious three-course mushroom dinner for all the participants. Everyone got a little taste of the fruits of their labour, and it was definitely delicious!

Mark Janssen in his Ignite talk mentioned that some countries are mycophilic and some countries are mycophobic. The Netherlands definitely made it to the mycophobic list, but together we can turn that around! Learn how to grow your own mushrooms, hunt for edible mushrooms in the woods, and cook delicious meals with them all.

This mushroom excursion was part of the Paddestoelen Paradijs exhibition, which is on from now until November 27th at Mediamatic. Look here for more excursions.